Great news, cheaters! Ninety-six percent of your friends won’t tell on you

If you want to find out if your partner’s cheating, you’d better start rifling through his credit card receipts or work out the password to his phone quick smart, because you can be all but certain that his friends will never tell you. And the flip side is true, too: if you’re being unfaithful, your friends might not approve (especially if they’re me) [stern look] but they won’t let the news slip.

That’s according to research from dating site Victoria Milan, at least. The site polled 6511 of its members and found that more than 70% knew at least one friend who was cheating. Of those, 96% wouldn’t spill the beans.

When asked why, the main reason was not wanting to break up a relationship, while 23% of respondents felt it was their duty as a friend. Victoria Milan founder and CEO Sigurd Vedal says, ‘The friend-code is unbreakable, and cheaters are almost unanimous in saying that the person being cheated on should never be told by a friend of the cheater.’

But we should probably take the survey with a pinch of salt considering the source: Victoria Milan isn’t any old dating site – it’s specifically designed for people looking to cheat. And it’s depressingly successful, with more than 5 million members worldwide, so members’ answers may have reflected a tad of self-interest…

It would be fascinating to find out if people who aren’t in search of a ‘secret affair’ know quite so many cheaters. And of course, if you are considering infidelity, you should probably find out first if 96% of your pals will have your back.